Originally Posted by aroundoz
I also would go for the Tubus. I almost bought the Surly but heard it comes w/ a bag full of bolts and parts which are needed to make them fit. Very few parts involved w/ the Tubus and it is a no brainer. It's great how you can bend the stays to make them work. If you go through Wayne at the Touring store, you will also save about $30 per rack.
It's amazing how much good information you can glean from these boards, but it's equally amazing how much mis-information gets around too.
Tubus are indeed excellent racks, but ask "LollyPop" on this forum if they can break! You can also ask Lolly about the Surly, as he's using one of them on the front. No, the Surly's aren't made by OMM and they are made in Taiwan. "Made in Taiwan" doesn't make a product good, bad or ugly, just that it's made in Taiwan. Made in the U.S. doesn't make a product gold either. The quality of the Surly racks is impeccable and they are rock solid.
Now, as for the "bag full of bolts and parts which are needed to make them fit"; those parts aren't to make the racks fit, but the racks are engineered to fit ANY frame or fork setup that you have--even front shocks. If you have a pretty-much standard frame and fork with braze-ons and eyelets, then you don't need many of the parts and you can open up a hardware store after mounting the racks. But if you don't have all the braze-ons, eyelets, or have front suspension, then you'll appreciate that bag of nuts and bolts.
BTW, you can get the Surly racks for about $90 each at
Alfred E. Bike.
I opted for the Surly's on one of my favorite bikes. They're "nice racks". Take a look
here and
here.
Ted Phelps
discovery06.crazyguyonabike.com